That Danish Cartoon

According to this report from the BBC, Danish police have arrested three people for planning the assassination of Kurt Westergaard, who drew the cartoon of Mohammad printed in the Jyllands-Posten newspaper three years ago. Two of them will be deported, and one, a Danish citizen, will be tried for conspiracy to commit murder.

There are two particularly important aspects to this story. First off, newspapers that originally refused to print the cartoons are now doing so. This indicates one of two things: either journalists now believe that the threat has receded, now that a few arrests have been made, or journalists recognize that the threat from radical militant Islam is more long-term than they originally thought, and are staging an act of defiance.

I wonder which it is; a quote from the editor of Jyllands-Posten, Carsten Juste, indicated, "We'd become more or less used to death threats and bomb threats since the cartoons, but it's the first time that we've heard about actual murder plans - that's new." He should not be surprised. Europe, even more than the US, is under an existential threat from Islamic terrorists. This particular threat may be sent back to Tunisia, but more will come.

The other critical line in the story is this:
The BBC's Thomas Buch-Andersen in Copenhagen says the arrests have stunned people in Denmark, where the furore over the cartoons was thought to have passed.

The cartoon "furore" is not an isolated incident. These terrorists have long-term plans, and long memories. Indeed, they are still angry about losing Spain in the 15th Century. Picking off the foot soldiers in this war of ideas is not something that will end for a very long time. Westergaard's righteous anger will serve him well. Let's hope his alertness to politics and society can be translated into alertness in his own neighborhood.